An investigation has been opened after an African refugee was left to drown in Venice’s Grand Canal as tourists on nearby boats filmed him on their phones, with some apparently laughing and making racist jokes.

Video footage released on several Italian news sites shows the 22-year-old Gambian, later identified as Pateh Sabally, flailing in the icy waters of the city’s canal.

At least three lifebelts were thrown to him by passengers on a nearby water bus but the drowning made no effort to reach for them, prompting speculation that he wanted to commit suicide.

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In the video, one man can be heard yelling “Africa” at the refugee and “Go on, go back where you came from.”

Onlookers are heard starting to laugh.

“He is stupid. He wants to die,” another person allegedly says.

No one jumped into the water to help him. He was eventually caught in the current and drowned before police divers made it to the scene.

Dino Basso, director of the local association of lifeguards, said there was a lifeguard in the area who was about to dive in when he “got distracted by screams of a woman in a nearby boat saying the refugee was just pretending.”

“I don’t want to blame anyone but maybe something more could have been done to save him,” he said.

Italian media said Mr Sabally had sailed from Africa two years ago and was given permit to reside in Italy.

According to Frontex, the European Union border agency, about 181,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat last year — a 20 per cent increase from last year.

A poll published this week revealed that 68 per cent of Italians would back government efforts to speeding up expulsions of economic migrants, according to the Times.

http://heatst.com/culture-wars/refugee-drowns-in-venices-grand-canal-as-tourists-film-on-their-phones-laugh/